New Jersey to give $1 million to religious groups at risk of attack

NEW YORK New Jersey will give up to $1 million in grants to religious institutions and other non-profit groups vulnerable to attacks in the wake of a spate of threats against Jewish organizations around the country, Governor Chris Christie said on Tuesday.

Organizations in nine New Jersey counties will be able to apply to the state’s Office of Homeland Security for grants of up to $50,000 each for security equipment if they can show they are “at high risk of terrorist attack,” Christie said in his announcement.

Christie, a Republican, cited a bomb threat against a Jewish community center in Cherry Hill, Camden County, last month, one of more than 100 such incidents tallied at Jewish community centers around the United States this year. The threats all turned out to be hoaxes, and at least one man in Missouri has been arrested, accused of making some of the threats.

The new Jersey program is intended to supplement similar federal funding available in the state’s 12 other counties.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by James Dalgleish)